Bring-Back-Powell

Maybe a little hint for round 1 that we'll be going with: Defence - May, Lever and Petty with T Mac missing out. Forward - JVR, Turner with AJ as the third tall forward/second ruck and then potentially subbed out. Jefferson to miss out. (JVR to play the entire game as a forward aside from maybe a short Gawn chop out if AJ subbed out)

I wonder if Marvel and the AFL will review their roof policy in the future, or if it's a permanent closure and they'll never review it. There's no reason whatsoever why the roof should be closed for night games in March and the first half of April.

That's a very good result for McVee. Pity we don't have GWS in round 3 instead of round 1 as they have a superior small forward department to North and Gold Coast. Any track watchers able to report how Windsor is training today, and whether he's likely for Sunday?

100% was the last game at Subiaco. We had some amazing wins in 2017, including also knocking off Adelaide in Adelaide who were pretty dominant in the H&A that year.

I don’t think it’s completely out of line to suggest that Chaplin could be a succession plan.

I hope so. ESPN have clearly lost interest in the MLB. They went from showing 3 games a week down to 1 in recent years so it's no surprise they've finished up.

That's my concern too. For most of last pre season we had a shocking list of unavailability throughout the entire pre season, however we managed to get a full squad aside from Melksham available for the Sydney opening round game. For the first 8 weeks we were up and about, but by mid to late season all we were talking about was how bad a pre season we had. The lack of pre season seemed to be the number one reason as to why we fell in a hole after round 12. To be honest, I don't see how this pre season has been much better, in order to be confident that we'll be firing in the more important half of the season. Whilst Clarry has had the pre season of his life which is a massive boost and our pre xmas period was very healthy, two of our best three players have been in rehab for 4 and 6 weeks at a time, we've copped numerous medium to long term injuries and we've had niggles aplenty to established best 23 players in Chandler, Viney, Windsor, Turner and McVee (in addition to his hammy) that have seen those boys miss multiple weeks of full training.

Flag favourites for mine. Collingwood beating Fremantle in this year’s grand final.

We can lay a lot of blame at the coaches and players for how last year transpired, but the supporters can cop it for those two crowds. 17,000 to the Port game was an absolute embarrassment. You couldn't even excuse the supporters for the weather (per the GWS game) as the maximum temperate earlier that day was nearly 18 degrees. It's no surprise that we only have one night game at the MCG in the first 15 rounds.

Agree with this. Roof should be opened during the day when there’s less than 20% chance of rain, as it used to be.

Yep correct on both counts. We went 8 years without winning a game at a stadium that was 4 kilometres away from our training venue.

Another way of looking it was that after round 21 they were 12-6 and third on the ladder. Then they copped injuries to Treacy, Darcy and Pearce and lost their remaining games. They’re a highly talented team but couldn’t handle a few injuries that a Brisbane Lions could.

It’s actually a lot better than the bush league squad they assembled last week.

I've got a similar prediction. Same for the Dees (if we were to beat Freo in round 6 it could really open our season up as we have a winnable fortnight after that) Freo will be 4-1 with a round 1 loss to Geelong at GMHBA. It will be an absolute indictment on Longmuir if he can't get that talented list into the top 4. They want for absolutely nothing.

Agree with all this. Feels as though Longmuir and McRae have Goodwin's measure in the coaches box. Even in 2022 (10-0) and 2023 (7-3) when we went in as outrageous favourites against Freo at the G, they took us apart in both games, particularly the 2022 game. We seem to structure up terribly against them and I'm not sure why. However, the most important objective is no injuries on Sunday. The club needs a break from people continually going down with medium or long term injuries.

99.9% certain if he gets reported and suspended on Sunday, the suspension will take place from round 4 onwards. In fact I'm 100% sure.

Yeah that question has crossed my mind too. He's not playing until 4 April so they may think it's necessary for him to get some minutes this weekend. On the other hand, the team needs to get used to not having him there. We won't have the luxury of Kozzie kicking or setting up a goal when we badly need one, in the first three games.

Geez Kako came as advertised. Good to see Essendon use up their unsustainable accuracy card in a practice match.

Firstly, I don't understand the bolded bit. Secondly, isn't all about peaking when it matters? We certainly timed our run beautifully in 2021 after a patchy June and July. Thirdly, although it's extremely hard to back up a premiership of late (unless you're Penrith or Kansas City Chiefs) Brisbane would have to be at the front of the grid in terms of flag chances.

100% agree. Trac had a sneaky great year in 2024 before he got injured and was on track for 28-30 votes.

Good article. I'm not expecting him to be peak "Max Gawn" in the early rounds due to his lack of match practice but his solid fitness base should hopefully see him playing his best footy at the back end. Chaplin, in the recent post game presser, indicated that Max might be rested at times due to the luxury of having TC on the list, or even having the two in the same side.

Happy with this pick up. Impressed with some of his WC games. Talk about sliding doors. If the game on Saturday ended 2 minutes earlier, then Jai would not be an AFL player this year.

ROUND 6, 2023 at Adelaide Oval (22 April 2023) PORT ADELAIDE 3.2 9.6 13.9 16.13 (109) WEST COAST 2.3 3.6 7.8 10.9 (69) GOALS Port Adelaide: Finlayson 5, Rozee 2, Rioli 2, Burton 2, Byrne-Jones 2, Lord, Drew, Powell-Pepper West Coast: Culley 4, Allen 2, Darling 2, Waterman, Petruccelle

I’m concerned about our small defence and small forward depth coming into the early rounds. However I reckon our key defensive stocks would be the envy of a lot of clubs. Having to leave one of May, Lever, Petty or T Mac out of the round 1 defensive line up is a good problem to have (obviously the first two guys are a lock)

Thanks for clarifying. I had a hard time trying to work out what he was on about it. All I took from his answer was that he won't be doing cartwheels that we might well be granted the extension.